merrick



1929. F. w. MERRICK 1,734,733

LACING AND LIKE ARTICLES AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Original Fil edSept. 22, 1928 0 agdw a .9

132 12822302 was? wMerzeacm Patented Nov. 5, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENTOFF1E FRANK W. MERRIOK, OF DORCI-IESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOAMERICAN STAY COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSACHUSETTS LAOING AND LIKE ARTICLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAMEOriginal application filed September 22, 1928, Serial No. 307,758.

Divided and this application filed March 7, 1929. Serial No. 245,100.

My invention relates to working leather, felt, and similar materials,and to apparatus for and methods of producing articles from suchmaterials.

This application is a division of my prior application Serial No. 307 ,758, filed Sept. 22, 1928.

The invention will be best understood from the following description ofone manner of performing the improved method and of examples of articlesproduced by said method and of apparatus for performing the method,while the scope of the invention will be more particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is an elevation, with parts in section, of amachine for beveling the edges of strip sheet material;

Figs. 2 and 3 respectively are sections on an enlarged scale on thelines 2-2 and 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of presser roll mechanism particularly adaptedfor use in forming leather lacing;

' Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are crosssections on an enlarged scale of a leatherstrip illustrating different stages in the process of forming leatherlacing; and

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a leather strip illustrating the manner ofuniting separate short strips out from the hide.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings I have showna rotary disk skiving-knife 1, below the cutting edge of which ismounted a disk 3, the latter being rotatable about an axis 5 which liesin a horizontal plane parallel to the plane containing the cutting edgeof the knife said cutting edge preferably extending slightly beyondavertical plane including said axis. As shown the rotary member 3 isprovided with a circumferential groove 7 provided with inclined sidewalls 9, while cooperating with said groove is a stationarv resilientpresser member 11 having a foot 13 adapted to engage with a strip ofmaterial 15 and force the body portion of said strip into said groove.

As illustrated, the strip of material 15 is fed from a spool 17 througha perforation 19 in a stationary guide plate 21, to which plate the base23 of the presser member is attached, the end of the plate adjacent therotary member 3 being slotted as indicated at 25 (Fig. 2) for receivingthe foot 13 of the presser.

Any suitable means may be provided for rotating the member 3, the groove7 of which member is preferably knurled or roughened to cause it to feedthe strip through the perforation 19 and against the knife 1. As shown,the parts are so proportioned and disposed relative to the dimensions ofthe strip 15 that the lateral edge portions of the strip 15 will extendabove the circumferential. surface of the member 3, so that theskiving-knife, which lies in a plane substantially tangent to thesurface of the member 3, will sever said edge portions from the bodyportion, resulting in the opposite edge portions of a strip having across-section such as shown in Fig. 5 being beveled by the knife toproduce the strip having the cross-section shown by Fig. 6.

The apparatus above described is adapted for use with various materialssuch as leather and felt, felt strips, having a cross-section similar tothat shown in Fig. 6, being particularly adaptable for use infabricating weather strips.

Heretofore in the manufacture of leather lacing, such as is employed forornamenting and uniting the edges of leather articles such aspocketbooks and the like, the lacing has been madeby drawing strips ofleather under a gouge-shaped knife to remove narrow strips having across-section similar to that shown by Fig. 7. This prior method,besides being wasteful of leather, has the result that only theflattened side of the lacing can consist of the finished grain side ofthe hide, whereas in the finished pocketbook, or the like, the curvedside of the lacing is exposed, the flat side being placed against thesheets of which the article is formed. Further, lacing made by the priormethod is deficient in respect to tensile strength, because the leatheradjacent the grain side of the hide is relatively weak compared to theflesh side of the hide, particularly in goat skin, which leather iscommonly employed for this pur pose. Further, due to the small. size ofthe lacing (say about of an inch wide by .025 of an inch thick) it isimpossible to unite the ends of leather strips made according to theprior method, resulting in the product consisting of short lengths oflacing commensu rate with the dimensions of the hide.

According; to the improved method ofmaltlacing the curved side of thelacing, as viewed in 7, may be the grain side of the hide, while more ofthe flesh side may be retained, and lengths of lacing may be formed ofany desired length, enabling; the same to be wound on spools forconvenience in shipping and handling. Further, according to the improvedmethod the lacing may be made with a minimum waste of leather.

As an example of the improved method, but without limitation thereto,goat hide of about .03 of an inch thick may be split into strips about1% .i'ches wide. which strips, indicated at 27 in g 8. may have theirends skived to produce wide bevel surfaces, as indicated at 29 in Fig.8, after which ends of a series of strips may be united with rubhercement to produce a strip of any desired length. Strips of great lengththus formed may then be skivcd from the flesh side to make each ofuniform thickness, say about .025 of an. inch, after which the stripsmay be split into a plurality of narrow strips, say about of an inchwide, as indicated in cross-section on an enlarged scale in Fig. 5. inwhich indicates the grain side of the leather and f the flesh side ofthe leather. These narrow strips so formed may then be fed to theapparatus. indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, with the flesh sides of thestri s uppermost, resulting in opposite edges of the flesh sides of thestrips being skived to produce strips having: cross-sections like thatshown by Fin. 6. The beveled strips may then be fed between presserrolls, such as indicated in Fig. 4, in which 31 reprean upper presserroll and a lower presser roll. Herein the upper presser roll has afiance 35 fitting into a groove 37 in the lower presser roll 33, thebot-tom surface 30 of which ogroove is suitably formed to cause one sideof the lacing to be convex, t at. is to sav to curved or polygonal, asdesired. The action of the presser rolls in Fig. 4 is slightly tocompress the material, thus enabling more of the flesh side of theleather to be employed than in the prior method, and to change its shapefrom that indicated by Fig. 6 to that indicated by Fig. 7 so that thegrain side of the leather will be convex.

It will be understood that the particular cross-sectional shape,dimensions, andmaterials of the articles described above, and theparticular apparatus and method described. are given as examples of theinvention, and th at wide deviations from these be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. As an articleof manufacture, a leather lacing comprising a strip ofleather having in cross-section a convex side consisting of the grainside of the hide.

2. As an article of manufacture, a leather lacing comprising a strip ofleather having in cross-section a substantially flat side and a convexside, said convex side consisting of the grain side of the hide.

3. As an article of manufacture, leather lacing of length greater thanthe length of the hide comprising a strip of leather havingincross-section a convex side consisting of the grain side of the hide.

4. As an article of manufacture, leather lacing of length greater thanthe length of the hide comprising a strip of leather having incross-section a substantially flat side and a convex side, said convexside consisting of the grain side of the hide. I

5. The method of producing leather lacing which comprises splitting ahide into strips, beveling opposite edge portions of said strips fromone side thereof, and pressing the beveled strips to cause the sidethereof opposite the beveled side to be convex transversely of thestrip.

6. The method of producing leather lacing which comprises splitting ahide'into strips, beveli-ng opposite edge portions of said strips fromone side thereof, and rolling the beveled strips to cause the sidethereof opposite the beveled side to be convex transversely of thestrip. V

7. The method of producing lacing which comprises forming narrow stripsof sheet material, beveling the opposite edge portions of said strips atone side thereof, and pressing the strips to cause the side thereofopposite the beveledside to be convex transversely of the strip.

8. The method of producing leather lacing which comprises forming narrowleather strips, beveling the opposite edge portions of said strips atone side thereof, and pressing the strips to cause the side thereofopposite the beveled side to be convex transversely of the strip. I

9. The method of producing leather lacing which comprises forming narrowleather strips, bevelingthe opposite edge portions of said strips at theflesh side thereof, and press ing the strips to cause the grain sidethereof to be convex transversely of the strip."

10. The method of producing leather lacing which comprises formingnarrow leather strips of united lengths of leather, beveling theopposite edge portions of said strips at the flesh side thereof, andpressing the strips to cause the grain side'thereof' to be convextransversely of the strip.

11. The method of producing leather lacing from hides which comprisessplitting a hide into strips, beveling the edges of said strips from theflesh side of the leather, and pressing the beveled strips to cause themin crosssection to have convex sides at the grain side of the leather.

12. The method of producing leather lacing from hides which comprisessplitting a hide into strips, beveling the edges of said strips from theflesh side of the leather, and passing the beveled strips betweenpresser rolls formed to cause the strips in cross-section to be convexat the grain side of the leather.

13. The method of producing lacing from hides which comprises splittinga hide into relatively wide strips, skiving said strips from the fleshside thereof to form a plurality of strips of uniform thickness, unitingthe end portions of said skived strips to form a continuous strip ofgreat length, splitting the united strips into relatively narrow strips,beveling the opposite edges of said narrow strips from the flesh side ofthe leather, and passing the beveled strips through presser rolls formedto cause the strips in cross-section to be convex at the grain side ofthe leather.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

FRANK W. MERRIGK.

